


A moment of doubt

by teaspoonbooks27



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Friendship, Mentions Of Infidelity, mentions of Skandia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:33:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28038486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaspoonbooks27/pseuds/teaspoonbooks27
Summary: Alyss and Horace have a moment of doubt.
Relationships: Alyss Mainwaring/Will Treaty, Cassandra | Evanlyn & Will Treaty, Horace Altman & Will Treaty, Horace Altman/Cassandra | Evanlyn
Kudos: 11





	A moment of doubt

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that FanFiction Friday came on a Saturday this week.  
> Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Alyss was glad that Will had suggested this trip to Castle Araluen. She loved seeing her husband and Horace together. They seemed so much younger, more like they were young apprentices again rather than the newly married men they truly were. And despite their rocky start, Alyss and Cassandra had grown into close friends. While their husbands sparred and ran about, the two women caught up with each other, Alyss filling Cassandra in on how Halt and Pauline were doing, and Cassandra confining in Alyss, reveling her concerns about her fathers health.

On the third morning however, Alyss woke up to an empty bed. Typically that wasn’t abnormal, Will often woke early to practice his archery, but he had told her that he intended to give his body a chance to relax while they were way. Alyss got herself ready and went down to the breakfast room, assuming Will would just meet her, Horace, and Cassandra for breakfast. Perhaps he is checking in on Tug, she thought to herself. However, when she arrived to the intimate breakfast room, she was surprised to see Horace alone at the table.

“Good morning Alyss,” He said, rising from his chair and pulling one out for her.

“Oh you don’t need to stand Horace, it’s only me.” She smiled, taking a seat in the offered chair.

“Force of habit I’m afraid, there’s lots of rules and expectations that come with being married to the princess.” Horace looks over at the door Alyss had just come through.

“Has Will finally decide to accept the fact that he’s off duty and sleep in?” He laughs.

“No actually. He was up and out of the room before I was even awake. I figured he would meet us down here.”

Horace cocks his head to the side, “Mm, Cassie was also gone early this morning. Perhaps they have run into each other, you know how they can be once they start talking.”

Alyss laughed lightly, “It’s true, and neither are very attentive to the time if they don’t need to be.”

Horace and Alyss enjoyed their breakfast, reminiscing about their youthful days back in the ward. Halfway through breakfast they were interrupted by the heavy walnut doors being flung open, reveling a slightly disheveled Will and Cassandra. 

“I am so sorry we are late, that’s dreadfully rude.” Cassandra said, somewhat out of breath, as she sits next to Horace. Her hair is in a loose braid that looks like she had hastily pulled together in an attempt to look more put together.

Will kiss Alyss on the check and she noticed that his shirt was buttoned incorrectly halfway up, and his eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath them.

“You were up early this morning.” Horace commented to his wife. Her eyes darted over to Will and he gave the smallest shake of his head, Alyss wouldn’t have even seen it if she wasn’t staring at him so intently.

“Yes, well, I wanted to take an early walk to watch the sunrise.” Cassandra replied, before busying herself with her breakfast that a servant had placed in front of her. When the same servant went to place a plate of food in front of Will, he waved them away.

“No thank you. I am all set.” He also decline the coffee that was offered to him, opting instead to sip at his water.

“Are you feeling alright Will?” Alyss asked him.

“I am fine.” Will’s voice was soft, and his eyes didn’t quiet meet Alyss’s. Glancing between her husband and Cassandra, Alyss felt something she had never felt before in regards to Will.Doubt. Will has never given her a reason to question his loyalty to her before. That’s not to say that there haven’t been girls who have seemed to forget that he is a married man now, it’s just that Will never notices them. Or at the very least, he pretends to not notice. And because of that, Alyss is surprised when the thought of something going on between Will and Cassandra flashes across her mind.

Alyss shakes herself mentally. She’s getting ahead of herself. There is absolutely no evidence that Will and Cassandra had even been together this morning. They could’ve simply arrived for breakfast at the same time. And even if they were together, Alyss has no reason to think anything indecent happened. But the she looks at Will’s face again and she knows, she just knows, that he is hiding something from her.

Breakfast is finished in silence and the rest of the day is spent in awkward conversation, everyone trying to busy themselves with something, anything, to avoid the uncomfortable tension that thick in the air. Alyss can tell by the way Horace keeps looking between his wife and Will that he too feels that they are hiding something. Dinner was a quiet affair, and Alyss and Will’s bedroom was even quieter while they got ready for bed. Alyss could feel the tension in Will’s muscles when she laid next to him. She placed a hand between his shoulder blades, but quickly pulled it away when he flinched at the gentle touch. She sighed. Maybe everything will be better in the morning.

Alyss woke up to a cold bed in a dark room. It was the middle of the night, and Will was gone. She got up and slipped on her dressing gown and slippers. She knew that roaming around the castle in her dressing gown and night dress was definitely not proper behavior for a courier, but she just had to try to find her husband. Not knowing where to start, she simply started wandering down various hallways. A right here. A left there. Up that staircase. The dark halls of the castle had her on edge and when she felt a hand tap her shoulder and she nearly shouted.

She spun around and saw Horace, also wearing a dressing robe over his dark blue pajamas.

“What are you doing?” They said in unison. He sighed and leaned his back against the stone wall.

“I’m looking for Cassie. She wasn’t in bed when I woke up.”

“Neither was Will.” There was a beat of silence. Then another.

“Am I crazy to be worried Alyss?” He whispered.

“Yes. And so am I. We have not reason to be suspicious of something going on. It’s completely unreasonable.”

“Then why are we doing this?”

Alyss looked at him. “Because if something is happening between them, which I am sure it isn’t, then we need to know.” Horace nods, then pushes himself off the wall. He leads he down a hallway, then stops at a door the is cracked open.

He looks over to her and she nods once. He lightly pushed the door open, reveling Will and Cassandra on the floor of a library in front of a roaring fire. Will is clearly asleep, his head resting in Cassandra’s lap as she runs her fingers through his hair. She looks up at Horace and Alyss standing in the doorway and she presses a finger to her lips, then maneuvers Will’s head out of her lap and onto a pillow that she pulls off a nearby chair. She stands and leave the room. Alyss and Horace trail behind her as she walks a few paces away from the open door.

“I can only image what you are thinking right now.”She says, her voice soft. 

“What is going on?” Horace sounds like he’s not sure if he’s not sure if he is angry or sad. Alyss feels the same way.

“It’s not what you think.” Cassandra bits her lip, looking for the right words.

“It better not be. Because what we are thinking is pretty bad.” Horace growls. Looks like he decided on angry.

“It’s not that. I promise it really isn’t. But it’s also not my place to tell you.”

“Well we deserve to know the truth.” Alyss says.

“Yes you do.” A voice says behind them.

They all turn and see Will standing down the hall from them in front of the library. Horace moves towards him.

“What is going on Will?” Despite Horace’s loud voice and unspoken accusation, Will doesn’t look worried, just tired. So incredibly tired.

“Let’s go in to the library and talk about this.” They all follow him in and he drops down onto a chair. Everyone else follows suit.

“First of all. There is nothing going on between Cassandra and I. I wish I could be angry that you could even think that, but considering the circumstances, I can’t necessarily blame you.”

“Fine, you say nothing is going on between you, but you are hiding something from us.” Alyss said.

Will stares into the fireplace for a moment. “When Cassandra and I were in Skandia, bad things happened to us. Really bad things. Things that still haunt us to this day. We left Skandia, but we weren’t able to leave behind the mental and physical scars that were left. Sometimes when we are together, those scars seem to surface even more. The past two nights I have had horrible nightmares.” Will is still staring into the fire and his voice trails off.

Cassandra picks the story up for him. “I found him the other night walking around the halls, shaking so badly. I brought him into here to warm up and we talked about what he dreamed about. The same thing happen tonight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me Will?” Alyss asked.

“Because you shouldn’t worry about it Alyss. And-“ He cuts himself off, stands, and start pacing in front of the fire.

“And what?” She presses.

“And you wouldn’t understand. You can’t. You weren’t there.”

“You need to tell me when you are struggling Will. I’m your wife, it’s my job to try to understand. I know that I wasn’t there, and that I can’t relate like Cassandra can, but you need to let me try.” Alyss got up and wrapped her arms around Will.

“Let’s go to bed Will.” She said, the conversation wasn’t over, but she knew that Will needed rest. He nodded and followed her out of the room, glancing back to give Cassandra and Horace a small smile.

“We should talk too.” Horace said to his wife.

“Yes, we should. But let’s wait until the morning.”

Horace kissed her forehead and nodded. It could definitely wait until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on Tumblr @ foragedroyalseal


End file.
